Present-daytelecommunications in Canada include telephone, radio, television, and internet usage. In the past,telecommunications includedtelegraphy available throughCanadian Pacific andCanadian National.
The history oftelegraphy in Canada dates back to theProvince of Canada. While the first telegraph company was the Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, founded in 1846, it was theMontreal Telegraph Company, controlled byHugh Allan and founded a year later, that dominated in Canada during the technology's early years.[1]
Following the 1852Telegraph Act, Canada's first permanenttransatlantic telegraph link was a submarine cable built in 1866 betweenIreland andNewfoundland.[2]Telegrams were sent through networks built byCanadian Pacific andCanadian National.
In 1868 Montreal Telegraph began facing competition from the newly established Dominion Telegraph Company.[1] 1880 saw the Great North Western Telegraph Company established to connectOntario andManitoba but within a year it was taken over byWestern Union, leading briefly to that company's control of almost all telegraphy in Canada.[1] In 1882, Canadian Pacific transmitted its first commercial telegram over telegraph lines they had erected alongside its tracks,[3] breaking Western Union's monopoly. Great North Western Telegraph, facing bankruptcy, was taken over in 1915 by Canadian Northern.[1]
By the end ofWorld War II, Canadians communicated by telephone more than any other country.[4] In 1967 the CP and CN networks were merged to formCNCP Telecommunications.
As of 1951, approximately 7000 messages were sent daily from the United States to Canada.[5] An agreement withWestern Union required that U.S. company to route messages in a specified ratio of 3:1, with three telegraphic messages transmitted to Canadian National for every message transmitted to Canadian Pacific.[5] The agreement was complicated by the fact that some Canadian destinations were served by only one of the two networks.[5]
Telephones -fixed lines: total subscriptions: 13.926 million (2020)
Telephones -mobile cellular: 36,093,021 (2020)
Telephone system: (2019)
ITU prefixes: Letter combinations available for use in Canada as the first two letters of a television or radio station's call sign areCF, CG, CH, CI, CJ, CK, CY, CZ, VA, VB, VC, VD, VE, VF, VG, VO, VX, VY, XJ, XK, XL, XM, XN andXO. OnlyCF, CH, CI, CJ andCK are currently in common use,[6] although four radio stations inSt. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador retained call letters beginning withVO when Newfoundland joinedCanadian Confederation in 1949. Stations owned by theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation useCB through a special agreement with the government ofChile. Some codes beginning withVE andVF are also in use to identifyradio repeater transmitters.
As of 2016, there were over 1,100 radio stations and audio services broadcasting in Canada.[7] Of these, 711 are private commercial radio stations. These commercial stations account for over three quarters of radio stations in Canada. The remainder of the radio stations are a mix ofpublic broadcasters, such asCBC Radio, as well ascampus,community, and Aboriginal stations.[7]
As of 2018, 762 TV services were broadcasting in Canada. This includes both conventional television stations anddiscretionary services.[8]
Cable andsatellite television services are available throughout Canada. The largest cable providers areBell Canada,Rogers Cable,Vidéotron,Telus andCogeco, while the two licensed satellite providers areBell Satellite TV andShaw Direct.
Bell,Rogers, andTelus are among the bigger ISPs in Canada. Depending on your location, Bell and Rogers would be the big internet service providers in Eastern provinces, while Shaw and Telus are the main players competing in western provinces.[9]
The three major mobile network operators areRogers Wireless (13.7 million subscribers),Bell Mobility (10.29 million[16]) andTelus Mobility (9.5 million), which have a combined 86% of market share.[17][18]
Federally, telecommunications are overseen by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (French:Conseil de la Radiodiffusion et des Télécommunications Canadiennes)–CRTC as outlined under the provisions of both theTelecommunications Act andRadiocommunication Acts. CRTC further works withInnovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada) on various technical aspects including: allocating frequencies and call signs, managing the broadcast spectrum, and regulating other technical issues such as interference with electronics equipment. As Canada comprises a part of theNorth American Numbering Plan for area codes, theCanadian Numbering Administration Consortium within Canada is responsible for allocating and managing area codes in Canada.
Bibliography
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook.CIA.
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